James Gurney

This weblog by Dinotopia creator James Gurney is for illustrators, plein-air painters, sketchers, comic artists, animators, art students, and writers. You'll find practical studio tips, insights into the making of the Dinotopia books, and first-hand reports from art schools and museums.

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or by email:gurneyjourney (at) gmail.comSorry, I can't give personal art advice or portfolio reviews. If you can, it's best to ask art questions in the blog comments.

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All images and text are copyright 2015 James Gurney and/or their respective owners. Dinotopia is a registered trademark of James Gurney. For use of text or images in traditional print media or for any commercial licensing rights, please email me for permission.

However, you can quote images or text without asking permission on your educational or non-commercial blog, website, or Facebook page as long as you give me credit and provide a link back. Students and teachers can also quote images or text for their non-commercial school activity. It's also OK to do an artistic copy of my paintings as a study exercise without asking permission.

Sunday, March 16, 2014

In this concept art study, a crab-like mech, surrounded by a cloud of drones, tackles a tyrannosaur, while two archers try to take it down.

It's painted in gouache, using white and black, warmed with yellow ochre and raw umber. I chose monochrome to evoke the look of an old photo. The gouache gives me more precise control over the recession of values in the dense, backlit atmosphere.

Detail of Tyrannosaur's head in "Grapple Hold" from Dinotopia: First Flight by James Gurney

I reserved the darkest values (though still not black) for the dinosaur's tail. The darks on the dinosaur's head are much lighter, closer to 50%.

To give it a photographic look, I tried to paint each section with just three values: a light value, a dark value, and a much brighter edge light. Those values step back together as you go back in space, like paired notes in music.

The new edition has more than 40 pages of new supplementary material: character sketches, vehicle designs, cinematic story treatments, and backstory notes--all of which is published for the first time. This material fleshes out the tumultuous ancient origins of Dinotopia, which predates its utopian recent history.

I also just wrote a special article about painting in monochrome for the April/May issue of International Artist magazine. The article is illustrated with six of these steampunk mech pieces.

Gladly preordered....The adventure continues!! I'm amazed at the bravery of those archers! A whole Davey and Goliath thing going on... And, I actually feel bad for the T-Rex... this is counter-culture stuff!!

Hello I am a young Brazilian fascinated by good literature, I searched their books to three years, and I have obitido success in my quest, not the encounter in Portuguese, my search led me to a single book in poor condition in a library Portugal in my country we do not find good literature like yours, I'm desperate to be able to read all his books. With love your Brazilian fan.

I haven't painted gouache for awhile, but it reminded me of acrylics, as I recall, darkening slightly when it was dry. Very predictable with a few paintings behind you.Almost finished with a large oil for a quickly approaching show, thinking seriously about taking a break with a few small gouache paintings---nice break.